You Bet Your Life
by cleo2427
Summary: What would happen if James bet Lily to go out with him?


Disclaimer: Still don't own the Marauders or Lily. How sad. I wonder if I can buy Sirius...  
  
The Marauders- James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew had just finished Transfiguration class and were headed towards the Great Hall for lunch. "That class was brutal!" said Peter. "Oh come on. It wasn't that terrible." Remus replied. "Easy for you to say! You're smart and can actually get things to work the way they're supposed to. "Peter said. "He does have a point, Moony. But it still wasn't that hard. If you want I can help you, Peter." James said as they sat down at their usual spots at the Gryffindor table. "Thanks, James." "No prob.lem." James trailed off. When Sirius, Remus, and Peter looked to see why, they all groaned. Lily Evans had just walked by. "James, I hate to say it to you buddy, but you have absolutely no chance with her. She hates your guts." Sirius said to the daydreaming James. "I don't know, Padfoot. I think he might stand a chance. She doesn't seem to hate him quite as much as she used to." Remus said. "You've got to be kidding me. They have as much chance getting together as me not getting into trouble." "Want to bet on that?" "You're on. 15 galleons? "20" "Deal." The two shook hands closing the deal, while James sat completely unaware of the bet.  
  
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When lunch was over, James went rushing out of the Great Hall hoping to at least see, if not talk to Lily. For whatever reason, luck was actually on his side. Lily was walking right in front of him and she was by herself. "Hello Lily" "The answer is still no, James." Lily said not even bothering to turn around. "What makes you think I was going to ask you that?" "Because that's always the first thing you want to know when you come barreling down the corridor towards me." "All right, you got me. That was what I was going to ask you. However, I also have a proposition for you, which I don't think you'll be able to say no to. Lily finally turned around. "Go ahead, I'm listening." James grinned. "Go out with me and I swear you'll have such a good time and never regret it, that if you don't have a good time I'll give you 10 galleons." Lily stood there for a minute with her arms crossed, contemplating. "Give me some more time to think about it." James started jumping for joy. "I still haven't said yes yet." "I know, but you didn't say no either." With that, James went sprinting down the corridor. Lily couldn't help but smile at the retreating figure.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hey guys, guess what?" James questioned Sirius, Remus, and Peter as he caught up with them. "Snape finally washed his hair?" Remus replied. "No, better." "We're getting a new Potions professor?" asked Peter. "Better." "They actually kicked Snape out of school?" asked Sirius. "Nope. I think I may have just gotten Lily to agree to go out with me." James grinned. "What?!" "How the heck did you accomplish that?" wondered Sirius. " I made a deal with her. If she doesn't have an absolutely fabulous time and finish the night off madly in love with me and want another date then I'll give her 10 galleons. She hasn't officially agreed yet, but there is no reason why she shouldn't. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go plan a perfect date."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It took two days, but Lily finally agreed to James' proposition. James was busy trying to plan a spectacular date. He wanted to have the perfect combination of sweetness and romance along with wild and fun. When the night of the date arrived, James was a nervous wreck. He had been driving the rest of the Marauders crazy all day. "Would you relax, Prongs. I'm sure she'll have a good time." Remus said, trying to calm James down. "How do I look?" James asked. "You look like a sex god in trousers," responded Sirius, winking at him. "You better leave, or you're going to be late," said Peter, pushing James out the door.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When James arrived in the entrance hall, Lily was already waiting for him. James had to hold back a gasp at the sight of her. He had never seen anyone as gorgeous as the girl standing in front of him. Lily was wearing a knee length, form fitting green dress that went well with her hair and eyes. However, James refused to let her know how much it affected him. "Ready to go?" James questioned. "Ready. What exactly are we doing tonight?" "We're going to go out to dinner and then I have a surprise for you." James said grinning. James offered her his arm and then led her out the door.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When James led Lily to the Three Broomsticks, Lily definitely thought the money would be hers in the end. "It's all set." Madam Rosmerta said to James. "Thanks, dear." James said grinning and winking at her, causing her to blush. James led Lily to a separate room that she had never been in before. In there, a table was set up for two. The only light in the room came from the candles on the table and elsewhere around the room. James led Lily over to her chair and pulled it out for her. Lily really didn't think that James Potter could actually have it in him to be so romantic.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The dinner went by flawlessly. And, much to Lily's enjoyment and annoyance, she was having a great time. James Potter was surprisingly a lot of fun. Lily couldn't have thought of a time when she had laughed more and the date wasn't even over yet! Good thing I don't need those 10 galleons, Lily thought to herself. "So, what kind of surprise do you have for me?" "Now if I told you what it was it wouldn't be a surprise would it?" James said. Lily gave a fake pout. "Fine, don't tell me." James grinned and pulled her out of her seat. "Come on, pouty." James then pulled out an old newspaper. "Grab on. It's a portkey." Lily looked at him in awe. "How do you know how to make a portkey?" But James only winked at her as the familiar feeling behind her navel took them to her surprise. "An amusement park? The pureblooded James Potter going to a muggle amusement park?" Lily said, rather shocked. "I have a soft spot for roller coasters. Is there a problem with that?" James said starting to pout. Lily laughed. "Now who's pouty?" James grinned. "Let's go." The two rode the rides until they were ready to puke. James would grab Lily's hand and drag her behind him as they ran to get on a ride. They would then sit in the very front seat as James proceeded to scream like a girl during the ride. When James had had enough, he took Lily to go sit in a large area of open field. They sat for a while in silence before anyone said anything. "You really surprised me tonight, James." "Oh? How did I do that?" "I always thought you were a conceited jerk. You always had to be the center of attention, be Mr. Popularity who always got the girls. Always doing mean things to people like Snape, who granted I don't like either, but still don't deserve some of the treatment you give them. But, tonight you have showed me that you can be the total opposite. You're incredibly sweet, hilariously funny, fun to be with, and I can keep going but I don't want your head to get too big." Lily said smiling. "I take it this means I won?" "Yes, you won."Lily trailed off as James kissed her. "And does this mean you'll go out with me again?" "You better take me out again or I might have to go back to hating you." James began to kiss her again as the park's evening fireworks display began.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "How did the date go?" Sirius asked as James walked into their dorm room. James didn't say anything but he fell backwards onto his bed with a grin and a perfectly content look on his face. " I do believe that you now owe me 20 galleons, Padfoot."  
  
A/N Woooo another story. I'm on a roll. This was also written for the Harry Potter game I was involved in. Ummm not much else to say about it. I must say though, I hate what Rowling did to James and Lily in the first book. I mean I knew they wouldn't be in love right from the get go but I don't really think Lily would have hated James either. *shrug Apparently, according to my friend Chris, this was better then Rowling. To which I responded eww no you've got to be kidding me and he said: I thought it was great but whatever. *squee I think that had to be the best compliment ever, particularly because of who it was coming from. *happy dance Anyways, write me a nice pretty review and maybe then you'll get more stuff from me not to terribly far from now. 


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